The company responsible will pay a huge price for releasing hundreds of thousands of non-native salmon into Puget Sound.
Cooke Aquaculture will pay a $322,000 penalty for the collapse of a floating fish pen near Cypress Island in August of 2017.
More than 250,000 Atlantic salmon escaped into Washington waters.
Cooke appealed the fine to the Pollution Control Board, but in a legal settlement agreed to pay the entire fine. An investigation found water quality violations, poor net cleaning and maintenance violations.
The ecological disaster moved lawmakers to phase out fish farming of non-native species including Atlantic salmon by 2022.
Cooke’s Port Angeles Harbor facility was closed last year for similar violations, but they will be allowed to continue operation at the Cypress Island facility until 2022.